Canine News

Puppy Shoots Man in Self-Defense
After witnessing three of its brethren be killed and finding itself and another sibling in the arms of a pistol-packing man, a puppy put its paw on the trigger and pushed, shooting the man in the wrist. The man went to the hospital (and now faces charges of animal cruelty); the puppy and its three surviving brothers and sisters are up for adoption.

Filming of "A Coyote and His Boy" Finished
The stuffed coyote who was stolen from his post guarding a municipal pool was found in the trash and is apparently in good condition. Apparently a month's worth of wacky hijinks were enough for the coyote, and it is ready to return to work. We wonder: But didn't the pool close on Labor Day?

Weighty issues

What a nice article.

You get a lot of the back-and-forth between health experts on weight: how much genetics determines it, how much learned behaviors; how we need to be accepting of our bodies, but how we can't be complacent about obesity.

"At the end of the day, we have to tell people to try harder," Froguel said. "But we have to recognize that things are more difficult for some people than for others and it's not because they are weaker by definition."

That's a good message, I think. Genes or no genes, they say that being too overweight may soon replace smoking as the leading preventable cause of death in this country. But the recognition that being overweight doesn't mean we're weak-willed, or gluttons, or slobs, or have "let ourselves go" - that's important. It helps put fitness back as a health goal to be worked toward and achieved without stigma rather than make it a moral imperative.